Fears of women’s rights in peril if far right surges in EU election – POLITICO

“In previous years … many of these rights have been taken away or threatened significantly” in some EU countries, said Jéromine Andolfatto, policy and campaign officer at the European Women’s Lobby.

Far-right populists have taken aim at “woke ideology” and what many consider to be fundamental rights in recent years. Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party outlawed abortion in most cases in 2020, a measure which new Prime Minister Donald Tusk is working on overturning. Meanwhile, Vitor Orbán’s government in Hungary has made it mandatory for pregnant people to listen to their fetus’ heartbeat before they can access the procedure.

In Italy, the right-wing coalition government has come under fire for failing to protect women by slashing funding to programs to combat gender-based violence. Spain’s far-right Vox party, which is present in several coalition governments at the local and regional level, has moved to scrap departments tasked with promoting equality, and in some instances additionally suppressed all mention of gender-based violence or LGBTQ+ rights.

“The right and the extreme right might try to replicate at the EU level the restrictive measures they advocate for at the national level,” Andolfatto added.

Gabriele Abels, professor of comparative politics and European integration at the University of Tübingen, said the EU’s achievements could come under threat under a conservative-leaning European Parliament which would gradually erode women’s rights instead of attacking them outright.

“If there is a swing towards the right in the European election, it will affect how supportive the next European Parliament will be [of women’s rights],” she said, adding that cuts to funding of gender equality initiatives and watered-down legislation could have a devastating effect.